μέλισσα
by clumsy eloQuence 666
Summary: UNFINISHED. Thirteen themes to tell a story. Honeybees aren't supposed to fly. They're proportionally unfit, with bodies too big for their wings. Too bad nobody ever told the honeybees. HadesPerseph. Rating for later chapters. R&R, svp!
1. zero: The Guide

**μέλισσα: A Guide to the Cast and Characters**

So glad you could join me, luvvies. Greek mythology is a passion of mine, and the myth of Hades and Persephone is an addiction. In this story, I'm trying to explore the more human, flawed aspect of the myth. Through many hand-me-downs, the story has lost some of the original meaning. A few key themes in this story are bees and the idea that marriage was considered something of an abduction by the Greeks because a proper woman would not go willingly to be a slave. I like to play with the idea that the gods are more mortal than we realize, that they can feel the same way that we do. Of course, I am going to be selective about what I portray here, as the history of the gods is too vast and incomplete to be included here.

This guide will be updated with each chapter I add to the story, revealing more of the characters, minor or otherwise, as they are introduced; I will add my own character twists here, but for the unbiased account, visit the linked sites. A very helpful tool in the research I've done for this has been an excellent, easy to use resource in anything to do with Greek mythology. I hope you all enjoy and please don't hesitate to send me any questions, comments, or criticism.

UPDATE: lol, not really an update, but the links aren't working on here. grrrrrowl. not fun. and it's screwing everything else up. for the links, email me, i suppose. i'm gonna keep trying, but until then...

**Anemoi:** The four directional wind gods, often associated with the seasons. Boreas the North was the cold breath of winter; Zephryos the West was the light spring breeze; Notos the South was the rain-storm of late summer and autumn; and Euros the East was the brisk wind of late autumn.

**Demeter:** The goddess of the harvest, mother of Persephone, who is fathered by her brother, Zeus. She clings to Persephone's childhood because she laments loss of her own innocence. She always gives, never receiving anything in return (except for Persephone), which leaves her feeling raped and abused. Although a mother, she's not really a woman, and no longer a child, so she's stuck in between with a child's mind and a woman's responsibilities. She doesn't stand up for herself or her offspring because she's used to being pushed around.

**Hera:** The wife of Zeus, Queen of the Upperworld. Hera doesn't consider herself the protector of all women that Zeus has wronged, but she does do anything she can to spite him.

**Hermes:** A messenger of the Gods, and a God himself. He's not necessarily mean-spirited, but he does infrequently use blackmail to get what he wants, as he is exposed to all the gossip. He is a collector of information, prone to eavesdropping and gossip, but he is a child at heart, never realizing the consequences of the information that he passes along on a daily basis. He often speaks whatever comes into his head and is quite obtuse in some situations, although he does have moments where he is surprisingly cunning and underhanded. Before her abduction, Hermes was Persephone's only source of information.

**Melissa (μέλισσα):** "Bee" (or honeybee) in Greek; roughly translates to Melissa, related to μέλι (meli), meaning honey. Bees were thought to be the bridge between the living and the Underworld in many ancient religions throughout the Near East and the Aegean world, including Greece and Egypt.

**Melisseus:** the Greek spirit of honey and beekeeping.

**Nymphai Meliai:** Manna Ash Tree Nymphs or Honey Nymphs. The Meliai sprung from Gaia the Earth when she was impregnated by the dripping blood of the castrated Ouranos. They were said to have given birth to the third human generation, called the Bronze. These sons were warlike, crafting spears from their mothers' trees, and feeding the metal forge with their wood. This may be the root of the connection between honeybees and their alleged wildness in Greek literature.

**Persephone** pronounced _per-seff-oh-nee_ The goddess of the Underworld, wife of Hades. Called Kore Korh pronounced _kor-eh_ before the abduction, meaning "maiden" in Greek; called Proserpina in Latin (Roman mythology). The daughter of Demeter (goddess of the harvest) and Zeus (god of all things weather as well as ruler of Mt. Olympus), she was the goddess of spring's bounty. According to legend, her great beauty seduced Hades into abducting her, transforming her Persephone, meaning destructive or manslayer.

**Zagreos:** A young god sired by Zeus on Kore (Persephone's maiden form) during the Titan Wars; he was later slain by the Titans, only to be reborn by another woman as Dionysos.

**Zeus:** The King of the Upperworld, Mount Olympus, and all of the Gods. He is the God of weather, easily angered, unpredictable, and given to following his whims without fear of consequences. Although he used to be valiant fighting for his brothers and sisters, he has become lazy, spoiled and a bit corrupt. He punishes the faults in others, but can find no flaw in himself because no one dares to challenge his perfection.


	2. one: NUMB

**A/N: hello there luvvies. here's another hades/perseph story for all of you. i know i should be working on SotA, but i can't seem to get my creative juices flowing on that one. So this is something i've been doing a little research about, which is quite interesting. see the guide for further details, little tidbits, and character descriptions. this isn't a one-shot, but i swear i have the whole thing planned in an outline, so i won't flake on y'all. cross my heart and hope to die. the overall idea was sparked by the name of the band "Persephone's Bees," whom I lerrrrve; their music isn't about hades and perseph or anything, but their name was just so cool.**

**full summary: Thirteen themes to tell a story. Science tells us that honeybees aren't supposed to fly; they are proportionally unfit, with bodies too big for their wings. Too bad nobody ever told the honeybees. **

_also, I'm looking for a beta for this story. anyone interested? i'd like to think that i don't make too many stupid mistakes in my writing, but i do. i can be confusing sometimes, and unorganized (ch, **apparently**, according to my english teachers…). i'm looking for someone who can proofread grammar and spelling adequately (i don't need a genius, just someone who knows their way around the english language), as well as make sure i'm not being too cliché, hackneyed, or unorganized. so, anyone interested can contact me. bonuses: you get free ice cream sundaes for life, previews of the story before i post it here, and i'll write a one-shot for you (if you'd like) with your choice of characters, settings, props, themes, must-haves, and must-not-contains. aw, c'mon, like you can really resist...please?_

_zzz...d0b...zzz...q0p...zzz...d0b...zzz...q0p...zzz...d0b...zzz...q0p...zzz...d0b...zzz...q0p...zzz...d0b...zzz_

**μέλισσα**

**NUMB**

It doesn't hurt. She knows that much. All else is lost to the gaping vortex of her numbness, the succubus draining away all feeling. It is lovely.

The slippery fingers of the wind rush against her, pulling at her clothes and hair, futilely clawing at her, trying desperately to keep its hold. Bees swarm around their heads in a frenzy of whipping gossamer wings and hard little bodies; the wind pushes at them, too, battering them against him and her and his chariot, swatting them away, only to have them buzz back relentlessly.

Amidst the fray, a stinger catches in the soft flesh of her forearm, digging into her awareness. Then another finds her eyelid, tearing the skin with a sharp throb. Then another, her thigh, another, her neck, another, her buttocks, another, her abdomen, another, her breast, another, her cheek, another, another, another-another-another, ANOTHER!

Her arms flail frantically, finally freed from the frozen depths of the numbness, thrusting at things that aren't there anymore. One limb meets with a hard something that strays into their path. A crunch, and a flare of pain, and she's jerked around hard by the blow, and her hip meets with the side of the chariot, and another cracking noise flies through the air, and a stinger rips through her remaining hand, and a scream wells up in her throat, dragging its claws over her vocal chords, and the wind whips the rough tips of her hair into her eyes, and everything's throbbing, and Pain hisses evilly, thrusting its talons deeper. And then everything stops.

A hardness closes about her waist, yanking her back into another hardness.

The numbness creeps back, slithering under skin in deceptively sensuous patterns, parasitic worms eating away at the flesh of consciousness. She welcomes them.

αποχαιρετισμός φως

Farewell Light.


End file.
